The Pentagon is drafting a new nuclear weapons strategy to prepare for a potential conflict with China or Russia, marking a significant shift in US military tactics.
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The strategy, overseen by Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon's policy chief, would place greater emphasis on shorter-range tactical nuclear weapons in the event of a regional war, rather than relying on long-range strategic missiles.
Mr Colby is expected to discuss the plans on Wednesday during a private military event in Nebraska while visiting the US Strategic Command, which oversees nuclear forces, NBC reported.
According to sources familiar with the plans, the strategy is designed to address scenarios in which US allies come under attack from Russia or China in a regional conflict.
A senior US defence department official told NBC:
"Our view is that we need credible nuclear options."
The strategy would not restrict Donald Trump's choices but instead "expand the president's option space by providing him with realistic and credible options and therefore strengthen deterrence", the official said.
Mr Colby has long argued in favour of tactical nuclear weapons, which are smaller, shorter-range warheads designed for battlefield use or against specific military targets rather than entire cities.
He has also argued that the US existing nuclear doctrine lacks credibility because it relies heavily on the threat of launching long-range strategic weapons capable of destroying an adversary's entire nuclear force.
The senior defence department official added:
"If you actually want extended deterrence to be credible, you have to provide the nation's political leadership with nuclear capabilities that common sense indicates you could actually use.
"Otherwise you're reducing our leadership's options to extreme choices that the adversary won't find credible – and that is not going to fare well for deterrence."
Deterring Conflict Without Increasing Risk of Nuclear War
The proposed shift has reignited Cold War-era debates about US nuclear policy and how the country should manage its arsenal to deter conflict without increasing the risk of nuclear war.
Critics argue that placing greater emphasis on tactical nuclear weapons could lower the threshold for their use by making them appear more usable in conventional conflicts.
Others have warned it could reduce military preparedness for scenarios in which a president might instead choose to deploy long-range strategic weapons.
A senior congressional aide familiar with the proposal told NBC:
"It's hard to imagine a study that is more out of line with President Trump's stated position of making our nuclear deterrent great again.
"He clearly wants more options and capabilities, not less. This study is big-time low-T."
No nuclear weapon has been used in conflict since the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, forcing Japan's surrender and bringing the Second World War to an end.
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Our thanks to The Telegraph
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